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X. Finale: Presto Poco adagio; cantabile

Our finale won’t be a sparkling rondo (though there will be one or two of those flitting around the place, as well). No, none of that flighty, flibberti- gibbet, half-tipsy, giggly stuff for us; we’re going to end with dignity and nobility; we’re going to end with Haydn’s variations on what was (and is), maybe, his most famous composition: Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser (aka The Emperor’s Hymn, aka Glorious things of thee are spoken, aka the German national anthem). Can’t get much more dignified than that, can you?

Of the three quartets written after Op. 76, two (Op. 77) are dedicated to Prince Lobkowicz (who also commissioned Beethoven’s Op. 18 set) while the third, published as Op. 103, is unfinished; Haydn attached his most recent visiting card to this incomplete score, it read: